Published: 2 August 2018
Last updated: 4 March 2024
The Birthright program provides a free, 10-day educational tour of Israel for overseas Jews aged 18-26 and when a few groups of visiting Jews decided to walk off the tour, many saw it as an insolent, left-wing conspiracy to raise the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with little regard for the political neutrality of the program.
These protests were organised by young left-wing Jews, predominantly representing organisations such as IfNotNow and Na’amod, whose primary mission is to educate people about Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinian territories and to bring the occupation to an end.
The protesters realised during their trips to Israel’s historic and cultural hotspots, that Birthright wasn’t telling them the full story.
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One group of five American women decided to see the reality of the conflict for themselves. They were affiliated with IfNotNow and joined a Breaking the Silence tour of the West Bank. Another group left their Birthright tour to visit a Bedouin settlement and discuss the forced demolitions of Bedouin and Arab villages with that community.
Their actions weren’t violent or vicious; they were protesting complicity and oppression while trying to engage in conversations on issues that matter to them. This sentiment isn’t different from the longstanding tradition of activism in the Jewish community. Around the world, we are witnessing a consolidation of Jewish youth activism.
Marco Schneebalg, a founding member of Na’amod, a new movement in the UK working to “end the British community’s support for the occupation”, notes that young Jews around the world are “fed up with the way the Jewish establishment morally and financially supports occupation and educates towards it”.
Na’amod recently sparked interest when seven of its activists confronted Birthright participants at London’s Luton Airport. Before being escorted from the airport by police, the activists said they received a “positive response” from the group, who were preparing to fly to Israel.
Along with organisations such as IfNotNow, All That’s Left, the Centre for Jewish Nonviolence and Achvat Amim, Na’amod is shining a light on the occupation through education and engagement, and it’s a trend that’s being supported by other Jewish youth organisations throughout the international community.
In Australia, the Jewish and Zionist youth movements have just wrapped up their winter camp season. It’s been estimated that in Victoria alone, almost 600 Jewish children and young adults participated in youth movement camps. From across the broad spectrum of Jewish and Zionist ideologies, the thriving world of youth movements is combining informal education with empowerment and activism, just as it’s been done for over a century.
Ross Lomazov, a former leader in the Bundist youth movement SKIF, Bund member and an organiser of the In One Voice Festival, argues that not only is activism inherent in young Jews, but that youth movements are “extremely important” to the broader culture of Jewish youth activism. “Young people [are] at the forefront of fighting for a better world,” he says.
Hashomer Hatzair was founded in central Europe in 1913, when a Zionist youth movement joined a Jewish scouting youth movement. Hashomer Hatzair and other youth movements have stood up to injustice, built kibbutzim and rejuvenated communities.
Jess Harrison, the federal chair of Netzer, the youth movement of the progressive Jewish community, is also at the forefront of youth movement-driven political activism, which she describes as an ongoing process. Harrison explains that “Jewish youth movements in Australia are growing because they harness this restlessness for activism which lives within all of our young people”. She describes an “innate thirst” for activism among youth in the community.
The parallels between the Birthright protesters and the activism of youth movements are not accidental; Jewish youth feel motivated to be politically active, inspired by the example of other young Jews in recent memory. The youth movements in Australia are getting ready to kick start the second half of the year, with one wary eye on the news and the tumultuous world around us, and the other looking to encourage political activism wherever it’s needed.
AND SEE
Activists hand out anti-occupation materials to Birthright participants en route to Israel (Haaretz)
Photo: IfNotNow activists talking with a Birthright participant at JFK airport, New York City, July 30 (Gili Getz)
